Suu Kyi allies form Myanmar ruling party after long struggle

Hundreds of lawmakers from Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy (NLD) were sworn into Myanmar’s parliament on Monday, with enough seats to choose the country’s first democratically elected government since the military took power in 1962.

Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi (C) attends the first day of a new parliament session in Naypyitaw

The NLD won some 80% of elected seats in November’s historic vote, catapulting it to power as Myanmar’s ruling party after decades of struggle that saw many of its members imprisoned.

But the junta-drafted constitution means the party will have to share power with the army that for years suppressed, often brutally, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and her allies.

The first sitting of the NLD-dominated parliament is another step in Myanmar’s drawn-out transition.

“This is Myanmar’s first parliament in years that was chosen by the people,” said Pyon Cho, who is now a lawmaker and spent 20 years in jail as a member of the anti-junta group the 88 Generation Students.

“We have the majority. We have the duty to fulfil our manifesto and change the lives of the people in this country.” Read More